The Could Be The Start of a beautiful relationship
by phatalbert21
Summary: My first C.S.I fic, please R/R . A 1st person story told through Wendy's eyes. After Warrick's death Wendy reraches out to Catherine in her time of need. Catherine/Wendy


This is my first attempt at a C.S.I. Fanfic. The pairing for this is Catherine/Wendy more commonly known as Candy. It takes place after the events of season 9's premier: For Warrick so if you haven't seen it there will be some spoilers ahead so you've been forewarned. Please do not copy without my permission.

No Beta for this one, I was kind of bored and churned this out in about an hour and a half. So any grammatical mistakes (I hope there are none) are my fault.

My First published story so if your reading it please take the time to review it, thanks

**Warning**: This is a femslash story it contains implied (implicit and explicit) attraction between two women if your not cool with that turn back now.

I look at her and see a woman in so much pain she can barely stand it. It's been a week since Warrick's funeral and other than Grissom I think she was hit the hardest. The light that used to shine through her baby blue eyes has been replaced by a dull listless stare. Honestly I'm surprised Grissom let her come back to work. After all she was Warrick's closest friend, if I had been in her position and my best friend was brutally murdered I'd take some time off. But Catherine isn't me, she came back to work the day of the funeral throwing herself headlong into her work with such vigor it resembled something Sara would have done when she was working here. I overheard Greg telling Hodges that he had heard Grissom had to practically kick Catherine out of the lab after working a double shift and despite him wanting her to take a few days off she was back after only a single day insisting she had work to do.

"Wendy." from her tone it's obvious it's not the first time she's called my name, I was to busy zoning out to hear her.

"Uh-Yeah?" That sounded _real _smart, I can be such a spaz sometimes.

"I need you to run an analysis on these fibers and I need that done A.S.A.P." Her tone is brisk but it's missing her usual snap and there are bags under her eyes. Obviously she hasn't been sleeping well if she's slept at all.

"Um sure I'll get right on it."

"Thanks." She's turning to go, I feel so bad for her, I should say something.

"Hey, Catherine?"

"Yeah" she turns back around

"Are you alright?" That's the best I can do? _Lame_

She gives me a half smile, not that trademark smirk of hers that makes my stomach flutter every time I see it. It's obvious she's putting up a front. "Yeah I'm fine, just a little tired."

"If you ever want to talk or grab a cup of coffee or something I'm available. I'm not asking you out like last time or anything, I just want you to know I'm here if you needed like a friend or someone to talk to. Not that you don't have friends or anything but..."

I trail off realizing I'm babbling, it's a bad habit of mine and one that seems exacerbated whenever I hold a conversation with Catherine. Like I said I can be a spaz.

"Thanks Wendy, I might take you up on that sometime." she says sounding both surprised and grateful.

Wow. I kind of expected her to brush me off like she did before, okay maybe I was a little too forward but C'mon Catherine Willows is a knockout by any measurement and I was just trying to be assertive, you know _carpe diem_ and all that. Instead she looked at me like I had sprouted another head and had brushed me off like a nerd asking out the head cheerleader in high school. This time though she said she might take me up on it! I can call that definite progress, although in hindsight I realize it could be her sleep deprivation talking.

I run the fibers she wanted pushing back a few non critical cases, which I would've done anyway even if she hadn't asked me to and a few hours later I have her results for her.

"Hey Wendy I got your page, that was really quick." I try hard not to smile at the pleased tone of her voice.

"Well you know it's been a light day and all… Anyway your results got a hit in CODIS there was D.N.A on the fibers they belonged to a Rody Brock."

"Rody Brock? As in _the _Rody Brock?"

"I don't know who is _the _Rody Brock?" I hate not knowing what she's talking about.

"Rody Brock is one of those MMA. fighters."

"Oh. Right." I hope my blank look doesn't give me away.

Catherine's smirk is back she obviously saw right through me, time for a hasty distraction.

"I'd never have pegged you as a fighting fan." Score one for me.

She rolls her eyes and snorts. "Oh I'm not, an ex of mine was. All he ever talked about was Rody Brock this and that. What was the hit for?"

"He has prior's for drug and weapon possession."

She nods her head a pleased expression on her face. "Good work, thanks Wendy."

I would be happy with her compliment alone but she compounds it by giving me a pat on the shoulder. At this point I'm floating on cloud nine, while simultaneously wishing we didn't have to wear those blue lab jackets. "A-Anytime Catherine."

She smiles and walks out the lab and I have to resist the urge to do a little dance of joy. Instead I head over to the break room for a cup of coffee lest I crash before shift is over. Once I arrive in the break room I find Nick at the coffee pot getting ready to pour a cup. He turns around and gives me one of his winning smiles.

"Hey Wendy your just in time for some fresh coffee."

"Great my caffeine levels are dangerously low." I say as I snag a bagel of the table.

Nick grins again "So how's everything going?"

My mind is replaying my interaction with Catherine and a huge grin comes to my face. "It's been going great. You ever have one of those days where everything seems to go your way? Yeah I'm having one of those, I mean it's like my stars are aligned or something you know what I mean?" I finish breathlessly and look at Nick in time to see him trying hard not to laugh. I've really got to work on that babbling thing.

"Yeah I think I know what you mean," His pager beeps and he frowns when he looks at it. "Listen I gotta get going... I'll see you later."

"Bye." I pour my coffee and sit down. Munching on my bagel I notice someone left the paper on the table so I pick it up and flip through, fortunately whoever left the paper didn't do the crossword puzzle so I'm in luck. I'm kind of a puzzle buff and I tend to lose track of time when I do them so I don't know how long I've been in the break room when I hear Catherine's voice behind me.

"Oh there you are, I've been looking for you for the past ten minutes."

_Busted! _"Sorry Catherine I kind of lost track of time, crossword puzzle." I say lifting up the paper sheepishly

"Yeah I know how much you like them." Funny I don't remember telling her about that." I...I want to know if your offer still stands." For some reason she sounds hesitant.

It takes a minute before I realize what's she's talking about. "You want to go have coffee with me?"

"Uh...yeah if your available...if not maybe another time."

My brain is on overload "Of course I'm free! Let's go!"

Catherine smiles at my enthusiasm. "Great, I know the perfect place, I'll drive." ***

Catherine's choice turns out to be a rather nice cafe I've never been to. We take our seats and place our orders, all the while I'm hoping I don't make a fool of myself. I know this isn't a _date_ per say but I still don't want to do anything stupid.

"So..." I trail off awkwardly. It hits me that I have no clue what to talk about with Catherine. Ninety percent of the conversation's we've ever had have been work related, I don't want to talk about work and I have a felling she doesn't either.

"Hmm? Did you say something Wendy?" Her mind looks a million miles away...wait a minute...

"You look like your mind is a million miles away." Not bad Simms

"Yeah, it's been a helluva week and I guess it's just catching up to me."

"I know what you mean, it's been a rough one." So far so good haven't babbled, haven't stuck my foot in my mouth...this isn't so hard. "How are you holding up you look like you haven't slept since the funeral." What on Earth possessed me to say that? "Uh what I meant was..."

Catherine interrupts me with an upraised hand. "No it's okay, you're right, I haven't had more than three hours sleep since the funeral."

"Nightmares?" I ask sympathetically

She nods and peers into her cup. Is she embarrassed? Time for a change of subject.

"So how is Lindsey doing?"

She looks surprised for a moment "She's doing well, you know just the usual kid drama."

I nod and silence fills the air, for a moment as I cast around desperately for something intelligent or witty to say. I don't know what's wrong with me I don't get this tongue tied around anyone else.

"So your probably wondering why I accepted your offer right?" she asks breaking the silence.

I honestly don't care if she saw Mozart's ghost and he told her to come. But to get things rolling again I say "Yeah, kind of."

"Well I was thinking I don't know you very well Wendy and I'd like to change that." Wow! She wants to get to know me better! Alright Simms play it cool...don't screw this up.

"I'd like to get to know you better too." Score!

I lose track of time as Catherine and I discuss everything from our favorite novels to whether new age music is better than oldies. Before I know it she's getting ready to go pick up Lindsey and she looks slightly more cheerful, it seems a bit of her old swagger has resurfaced.

"I had a great time Catherine. Maybe we can do this again sometime?" I smile hesitantly.

Catherine smiles and gives me a little wink. "Count on it. I'll see you later Wendy. Thanks for the company and coffee."

"Bye." She gets into her car and drives off leaving me in the parking lot with a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach which promptly evaporates when I realize Catherine drove me here and I have absolutely no way to get home.***

Over the next few weeks some major changes go down at C.S.I headquarters. Grissom decided to retire although with the way things have been going for him I don't think anyone blames him although he will be missed. Catherine was promoted to night shift supervisor and although she didn't want the job she's doing a great job so far (BTW Catherine apologized profusely when she realized she had left me stranded at the cafe, I ended up taking a cab). Two new C.S.I's were recruited, the first is a cop from Denver her name is Riley Adams I don't know too much about her except that she and Greg have a lot of chemistry. Our second new C.S.I is a man by the name of Dr. Raymond Langston, a former physician turned teacher turned C.S.I. He's a really nice man and I hope he stays with us for awhile, in fact I helped him work a crime scene not to long ago because we were understaffed and overworked. I really enjoyed working in the field so about a week after the case closes I stop by Catherine's office at the beginning of shift.

"Hey Catherine do you have a minute?"

"Of course Wendy, come in." She's smiling at me and I feel the familiar flutter in my stomach. In the weeks following our trip to the cafe Catherine and I get together once a week to have coffee or breakfast together it's been great getting to know her better.

I step inside, close the door behind me and take a seat.

"So what's up?" she asks entwining her fingers together after she takes off her glasses.

Wow she looks so cute. I wonder what it be like to kiss her.

"Wendy?"

"Huh?" Oh crap I feel myself blushing.

"I asked what's up?" she said frowning slightly

Focus. "Oh yeah I stopped by to ask for a job."

"You already have a job Wendy. You work in the labs remember?" I can tell she's trying not to laugh.

"I know that what I meant to say was I was wondering if there are any field positions available. I enjoyed working on the last case." It's something I've been debating on doing for awhile and now seems like a good time.

"Hmm..." she taps a pen against her chin looking thoughtful. "While there technically isn't any position open we could always use another set of hands out there. Tell you what I'm going to do I'll keep you on reserve in case of a busy night in the meantime I'm going to have you tag along on some easy case's to get you aquatinted with field procedure. That will be in addition to working in the lab at least until we can find someone to replace you."

I give her a huge grin "Thanks Catherine."

She gives me that sexy smirk of hers "We'll see if you're still thanking me after tonight. Come on I'm about to hand out assignments."

She gets up from her desk with a handful of slips of paper and I fall into step behind her. We arrive in the break room and I see the whole gang is assembled. They all kind of look at me but no one says anything.

Catherine quickly gains everyone's attention "Okay everyone I have assignments but I have an announcement first. Wendy has expressed an interest in doing field work so I'm going to be having her work with us all at various times." I see everyone either nod or smile at me. "Okay onto assignments: Nick and Ray, D.B on the strip. Riley and Greg I have a kidnapping for you. Wendy your with me, were doing a B&E. Alright let's move people."

As everyone departs I have a moment of panic I'm supposed to work a crime scene with Catherine? Hopefully I'll be able to focus and not screw up should be simple huh? Yeah...right. ***

We arrive at the scene in one of the Denali's, turns out it's a domestic case in a rather nice neighborhood. We're immediately greeted by an officer that Catherine knows.

"Hello Ms. Willows."

"Charlie I told you its Catherine, not Ms. Willows."

The officer flushes "Right sorry...Catherine."

"Better, oh by the way Charlie this is Wendy Simms she's out to get some field experience."

"A pleasure to meet you Wendy." he says shaking my hand

Catherine looks around for a moment. "Okay enough small talk what do we have?"

Charlie immediately straightens his posture and flips open his mini notebook. "Well it's a pretty standard case. A couple," he indicates them with his thumb. "Is out on the town and a neighbor heard a noise went to a window to investigate and saw a strange character rushing from the house. Neighbor calls it in and lets us know what's going on. That's pretty much it."

Catherine nods. "Thanks Charlie. Wendy would you mind processing the perimeter? I'll do the interior."

I'm slightly disappointed, I was hoping we would be working together; instead I'll just have to show her I know my stuff. "No problem." I say.

Catherine walks off, probably to get elimination samples from the couple, so I get to work. I snap on a pair of latex gloves, pick up my camera, make sure I have a kit and start to walk the perimeter searching for any evidence. I'm three quarters around the house before I come across anything. A square of red cloth is on the ground, it resembles a piece of flannel so I take a picture of it then 'bag and tag' it. About a yard from that is a pebble with blood on it so I repeat my earlier actions and then set off for the interior after giving everything a thorough double checking.

The interior of the house is where the action's at, well as much action as a B&E has anyway. I find Catherine in the living room squatted down with her back to me I see the hit of a red thong peeking up from her pants. I have to consciously focus on what to do as all of my higher thinking skills seemed to have evaporated.

"Uh…Catherine I'm...done processing the perimeter."

She doesn't bother turning around to answer me. "Did you find anything?"

"Uh...yeah a piece of fabric and a pebble with some blood on it."

"Good. Come over here and give me a hand with this." she says

I walk over and see that she is trying to lift prints from various shards of glass. Since there are so many I immediately get to work. I try to engage Catherine in conversation as we work but I can tell she's not really listening so I drop it after awhile. Nearly an hour passes and my hands are starting to get cramps when Catherine stands up and says were through. She asks me to bag everything and go wait in the Denali, meanwhile she goes and has a word with Charlie. After I finish up and get in the big SUV I turn on the radio I hear Masterpiece by Atlantic Starr and start to sing(that song always takes me back to my prom), I get so into it that I don't notice I have an audience until Catherine breaks out in applause. I see her standing alongside the SUV with her door open and the realization she heard me singing makes my face go red.

"Aww Wendy you look so cute blushing."

I didn't know it was possible but I think I feel my face getting redder.

Catherine chuckles and hops into the Denali. "I didn't know you sang."

"I don't." I wish I could just melt into the seat.

"Hmm...That's too bad, you have a great voice."

Wait a minute did she say I have a great voice and before that did she say I was cute?

"Thanks." I mutter

"It's true. Listen after we get through with all this you want to go out for breakfast? You know to celebrate your first day in the field."

Damn why did she have to ask today? "I'd love to but I promised someone we'd go out today. Can we reschedule for another time?"

"Oh...Sure another time. Uh who are you going out with?"

"Julie."

"Oh." Is it my imagination but does she look...jealous? No of course not, I'm imagining it why would Catherine be jealous?

The rest of the trip is passed in an awkward silence. I look over at Catherine a few times and see she looks deep in thought.

After we pull up into the parking lot Catherine turns off the engine and sits for awhile finally the silence just gets to me.

"Catherine what's wrong?"

"Nothing." She says abruptly

"C'mon Cath you can tell me."

She yells "I said it's nothing! Just leave me alone!"

I feel tears come to my eyes, get out the car and rush to the lab. I hear Catherine call my name but I don't bother to look back. ***

I don't think anybody saw me come in the lab which I'm grateful for. I'm in the bathroom trying to calm down when I hear the door open behind me. I don't have to look behind me to know who it is and for once I don't want to see her.

"Wendy I'm-"She lets the sentence hang in the air uncertainly.

I turn around I know my eyes are red but I'm not crying anymore. "Forget it Catherine, you made it _very _clear you don't want to talk about it. So I'm just going to shut up and leave you alone."

I see her wince at my statement. I make to move past her and she grabs my arm and turns me around. I look down into those gorgeous blue eyes of hers and see confusion and... Is that fear?

"Wendy I'm sorry, I acted like a total ass. I don't even know why I snapped at you. Can you forgive me?"

Despite myself I feel my anger and hurt melt away at her request and when I smile at her I can almost feel the relief radiate off her. "Yeah I forgive you."

She smiles back at me and then surprises me with a hug. "I think I've owed you this for a few years." She says by way of explanation.

I'm shocked (Catherine has stated on numerous occasion's she's not touchy-feely) and for a few seconds I'm stiff before I relax and return her hug. However long it lasts isn't long enough; when she does break the hug I have to work hard to not show my disappointment.

"We'd better get back to work before everyone wonders where we are."

Honestly I could care less but I say. "Yeah your right."

"Well. I'll see you later."

"Bye Catherine." She leaves me alone in the bathroom and I mentally file everything away about that hug from how soft her body was to the smell of her shampoo. Feeling revitilized I step out the bathroom and get back to work. ***

I don't see Catherine for the rest of the shift but Nick and Riley stop by the lab to drop of samples they need tested and they both say I look exceptionally happy. This according to Nick is "really saying something." I just smile at them and say I don't know what they're talking about. By the time shift is over I am exhausted but I promised Julie I'd meet her today so after a quick cup of coffee I hop in my car and head to a little diner Julie loves. During breakfast I try to focus on what Julie is saying but I keep replaying the hug with Catherine in my head.

"So do you think I should do it Wendy?"

"Huh?" Not my most articulate response.

"Okay spill it girl." Julie says

"Spill what?"

"Whatever it is that's got you zoned out." she says patiently.

"I'm not zoning out." Yeah right.

"Yeah right. C'mon Wendy you haven't heard a single word I've said since we've been here. Its okay you can tell me...did something happen at work? She sounds concerned, better fess up before she thinks I'm having a breakdown or something.

"No-I mean yes but it wasn't bad or anything."

"Then what was it?" she signals the waitress for refills before turning back to me.

"It's...nothing. You'll just laugh at me if I tell you." I finish lamely

This time Julie doesn't even bother to say anything she just puts on her puppy dog face. She knows that look will get me to do whatever she wants. I only last five seconds before I'm caving, that look is just plain wrong and should be prosecutable as a criminal offense; although to her credit she doesn't use it very often.

"Alright...I've been kind of _not_ dating someone and-" Julie interrupts me before I can finish

"Wait a minute how do you _not_ date someone?"

"I'll get to that in a second. Anyway I-" She interrupts me again.

"Is it that Greg guy I met?"

"No. Like I was saying thought this has been going on for-" Julie interrupts me for a third time and I'm starting to get annoyed.

"Too bad he was cute. Can you get me his number?" She looks at me and sees my arms folded across my chest.

"Are you done?"

"Yeah sorry." She actually looks apologetic.

"Okay. In answer to your first question _not_ dating is going out with someone for a few weeks in a row without any clarification if you're moving past a friendship into a romantic relationship. In answer to your second question, Greg is _not_ my type and besides we're just friends. He also happens to be in a _not_ relationship of his own at the moment so I probably can't get you his number."

"Bummer."

"It's Catherine I've been_ not_ seeing." I have no idea why I just spit that out.

Julie frowns for a second trying to keep up with my abrupt subject change. "Catherine...? Oh isn't she the one you asked out on your first day and she blew you off?"

"Yeah that's the one."

"Wow I guess there's one for persistence."

I tell her what happened today.

"Sounds like she's confused about you. Maybe you should try asking her out on a real date? I mean what's the worst she can do, shoot you down again?"

"Well I'm confused about her as well, and I really don't want to deal with her shooting me down...again."

"Well the way I see it you have to decide is she worth the risk?"

I sigh and place my head on my hands. "Thanks Julie you've been absolutely no help."

She smiles at me knowing I'm lying. "My pleasure." ***

Despite what I told her Julie actually was helpful to me as a sounding board, and if everything goes as planned today I'm gonna send her a pound of her favorite candy. If it doesn't I can always sit at home and eat the candy myself. It's been two days since my last encounter with Catherine (I had yesterday day off) and I arrived early at work to catch her before shift begins. I roam the halls looking for her but I can't seem to track her down. Finally after fifteen minutes of fruitless searching I just decide to wait in front of her office, I don't have to wait long and when she rounds the corner I feel my heartbeat increase dramatically.

"Hey Wendy, did you need something?"

"Yeah I need to talk to you." Like right now before I lose my nerve.

She looks at me curiously. "I'd love to but I'm about to hand out assignments and it's a busy night can it wait?"

No. "Yeah. I'll catch you later."

"Great. I need you and Ray to investigate a 420." She hands me a slip

"I'm not working with you?" It's out of my mouth before I can stop it...damn it.

Catherine's face register's surprises before she smiles and I can feel my face flushing. "Not tonight, maybe next time."

I'm saved from saying anything and possibly putting my foot in my mouth again by Ray who rounds the corner and walks over to where Catherine and I are standing.

"Hello Catherine. Hello Wendy." He says in his deep voice.

We both return his greeting and Catherine tells him I have our assignment before she disappears somewhere.

"Looks like we'll be working together again." Says Ray brightly

.

Normally that'd be fine with me, I like Ray and all but I was really hoping to work with Catherine again although realistically I guess I shouldn't expect to work with her every time. I give Ray a bright smile in an effort to not pout and because I genuinely enjoy working with him. "Yeah although if I'm working on a puzzle and you take a piece away you'll let me know this time?"

He chuckles at my little joke. "You've got it."

We pick up our kits and head to one of the Denali's and since I have a better knowledge of Vegas than Ray he offer's to let me drive despite the fact that he is the primary on this case.

Of course I take the opportunity to drive I don't think the other C.S.I's would let me drive, well maybe Greg would...if I begged him. We arrive at the scene, an old abandoned warehouse and see the officer in charge and wouldn't you know it its Charlie.

"Hey Charlie." I say to him

"Wendy, nice to see you again are you primary on this case?"

"Nope, Ray is. Charlie this is Ray. Ray this is Charlie." I introduce them to each other and they shake hands before Charlie gets down to business.

"Okay well we've got a db in there. Some kid was dared to break inside and he found a body. A word of warning you guys should suit up the body is in advance decomp. It stinks to high heavens in there."

"Thanks Charlie." Says Ray.

Charlie nods and drifts off. So Ray and I head back to the Denali and put on our full length blue smocks, booties and masks. Personally I am not looking forward to dealing with a body in 'advance decomp' but as a C.S.I (or rather a future one) I should show a little more grit so I don't say anything, but Ray must be psychic or something.

"Is this your first time with a decomposing db?"

"Uh yeah." The smell even through the mask is awful.

Ray nods sagely. "My first one was at a fried chicken restaurant, my tie was contaminated with decomp juice and I had to cut it off as evidence."

If this is Ray's version of a pep talk he shouldn't quit his day job. "Thanks Ray, but let's just get this over with before I pass out."

"Of course." he says seriously

We take our pictures and take some samples of various body fluids and manage to recover a shell casing of a .45 magnum. Dave the coraner shows up and I literally breathe a sigh of relief. He, Ray and a helper manage to get the vic. into a body bag and on a gurney to wheel him out of there. We finish up with the scene and finally get to leave.

On the way back to the lab I swear I can still smell that body even though the windows are down and the air is on Ray doesn't say anything, so I think he understands what I'm going through. He even offers to secure the evidence for me, so after I park the Denali I jump out and rush to the locker room. Immediately I strip down and jump into a shower, it's like coming home after a long day at work and I unintentionally let out a low groan of pleasure.

"Wendy?"

I stiffen like a board because I recognize that voice and it's the absolute last person I want to see at the moment.

"Wendy was that you are you okay?" There goes my idea to ignore the voice.

"I'm over here Catherine, I'm fine." I say with a grimace.

She sticks her head around the corner, before she seems to realize I'm in the shower and she starts to blush furiously. It's not like she can see anything below my neck but I guess it's the situation that has her embarrassed.

"I was...um just...seeing if you were...you know alright, I saw you...um rush in here and I was just...concerned."

"I'm fine just trying to get the smell of decomp off me." While I say that my mind wanders and wonders what it be like to have her in here with me my face turns redder than hers and I have to struggle to maintain my balance because my knees went weak at the thought.

"Ah I see so I'll see you later than." She's backing up as fast as humanly possible.

Before I can say anything else she's gone and I let out a sigh before I finish up my shower.

I arrive back at my lab and see Riley waiting for me with something to process no doubt.

"Ah your back. Catherine said you'd be by in a few minutes, something about decomp?"

"Uh yeah I smelled like a...well you know and I took a shower so I wouldn't smell up the lab."

"Ah I know what you mean this one time I..." She launches into some story about when she worked in Denver I kind of tune her out after a few minutes, first Ray and now her why does everyone have to tell me a story about their experience with a decomposing body?

"-and I swear it was like that for a week." she concludes. I nod and thank her for the story and I feel a little guilty for not listening closely I mean she was just trying to be nice like Ray was and I blew both of them off I should know better than that especially considering I know what it feels like to be blown off.

"Well I'm going to leave you to your work but could you run this through CODIS when you get the chance?"

"Sure I'll get right on it." I promise myself I'll do her sample first tonight to make up for my less than courteous attentiveness.

"Thanks Wendy, I'll see you around."

"Bye Riley."

Throughout the rest of the night the other C.S.I's come and drop off evidence they need tested for D.N.A or run through the system or both. I do a lot of testing and scanning and other things that I'm sure would look much more interesting in a montage than me telling you about it. Anyway fast forward to the end of shift and I managed to finish all my work, I was especially proud of how fast I got Riley her results so I'm in a great mood and want to see Catherine to talk to her so I close down the lab for the next shift and swing by Catherine's office. I peek in before I knock and see she has a stack of paper work that looks dangerously close to tipping over on her desk and Catherine is immersed deeply in her work. Just as I was deciding to wait another time she looks up and straightens her glasses.

"Hey Wendy what's going on?"

"Hi, I was just going to stop by to see if you have a minute, but it's kind of obvious you're busy. I mean look at all that paper work. So I'll just you know come back, It wasn't anything really important so you don't have to worry I'll just see you later." Damn that babbling thing again.

Catherine for her part is looking at me with a raised eyebrow; half amused half exasperated she shuffles some papers before she indicates I should sit down.

Before I can say anything she's talking to me. "Look Wendy I just want to apologize for walking in on you like that it was an accident although if you want to file a complaint I understand."

"No I don't want to file a complaint," talk about starting on the wrong foot..."I know it was an accident, no harm done." I finish shrugging and I see relief in those blue eyes of hers.

"So since you're not pissed off at me what did you want to talk about?"

Oh boy this is a lot harder than I imagined it'd be. "Uh I was wondering if..."

Catherine raises an eyebrow "If what?"

If...if there was any update on weather I could work in the field full time?" I

She tilts her head and looks at me suspiciously before she answers. "Yeah I think we can squeeze you in. I know I said there wasn't an official space for you but honestly I think you'd make a good addition to the team so barring your exam results I think we can get you onboard but we'll need to find a replacement for you in the labs before..."

Her cell phone rings and catches her attention (it turns out her ring tone is _The Twilight Zone_ theme, who knew?) she looks down and frowns at the phone then quickly glances back at me and tilts her head in apology "Sorry I have to take this...was there anything else?"

Seeing her agitated makes me realize now probably isn't the best time to ask her out and confess my feelings to her. So instead I shake my head and see myself out to the door. I make it half way down the hall before I stop and turn around. No I am not going to chicken my way out of this I am going to see this through so taking a deep breath to steady myself and knock on the door.

"Come in."

I step inside and close the door behind me and look Catherine dead in the eye who seems surprised I'm back; she opens her mouth, probably to ask that very question but I start talking before she can.

"I want to go out on a date with you." There I said it.

"Excuse me?" Her eyebrows are in danger of shooting off her forehead.

"I-I really like you Catherine and I like spending time with you, you're smart and pretty and we have this _tension_ between us whenever were together don't you feel it? I want to explore that and see if there is anything more than friendship there." Wow an invitation and a confession, when I do something I go all out.

Catherine honestly looks like she has half a mind to run away. But whatever the other half of her brain is telling her is enough to stop her from running...for now, instead she gathers her composure and stares at me like I'm a puzzle she's trying to decipher. I've seen that look on her face before on a particularly hard case and while logically I know it's her attempt to maintain controlling this situation emotionally it kind of hurts. The silence stretches for a while and now that everything is out in the open I'm starting to feel like a fool. So I open my mouth to do some serious backpedaling and see if I can still walk away with a sliver of pride intact when Catherine decides to speak (finally).

"You know I'm older than you."

"I don't care."

"I have a daughter."

"I like Lindsey."

"I can be distant and moody."

"I know, I've worked with you for three years remember?"

"I'm not the most affectionate person."

"I'm affectionate enough for both of us."

"If this thing becomes serious you'll have to switch shifts."

"It's worth it."

She looks at me again but this time I see the woman I have grown to care about so much." Okay Wendy as long as you know everything going in, I'd love to go out with you."

My smile was so bright people in the next room could probably see it. "Great, how about this Friday we go to that new Italian restaurant that everyone's been talking about?"

"Sounds good, how's eight for you?"

"Perfect. "She returns my smile with one of her own and with a seductive waggle of her eyebrows said. "Oh and Wendy dress lightly I hear Friday's going to be a hot one."

Feeling tingly I leave the office and head home, excited about the potential prospects this new relationship holds. Once I get home I immediately pick up my phone and dial Julie who picks up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Hey Julie, guess who's got a date on Friday with a gorgeous strawberry blond?"

**The End**


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